PRODUCTIVITY AND PRICES IN THE U.S. RAIL INDUSTRY: EXPERIENCE FROM 1965 TO 1995 AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

This paper documents the major changes in rail freight service productivity and the overall changes in rail prices over the period 1965 to 1995. Over this period, productivity improvements produced annual savings approaching $25 billion by 1995, with most of the savings achieved after 1983. Despite these dramatic improvements, the profitability of the industry never returned to the peak level of 1966, as the great majority of the savings were passed on to customers in the form of lower rates. A major concern is that the recent rate of productivity improvement will be very difficult to sustain into the 21st century, while the pricing pressures unleashed by deregulation will only grow stronger. The industry may therefore face significant financial problems in the not too distant future.

• Record URL:
  https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001070572/Home
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/10461469
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Forum

  11250-8 Roger Bacon Drive, Suite 8
  Reston, VA  United States  20190
• Authors:
  • Martland, C D
• Publication Date: 1999

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 12-25
• Serial:
  • Journal of the Transportation Research Forum
  • Volume: 38
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Forum
  • ISSN: 1046-1469
  • Serial URL: https://trforum.org/journal-of-the-trf/
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Deregulation; Freight transportation; Future; Prices; Productivity; Railroads
• Subject Areas: Economics; Freight Transportation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00766582
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-042 829
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 21 1999 12:00AM